Hera's Disapproval
by irichance
Summary: When Hera goes missing again, it's up to Percy and his friends to find her. They will have to trek to the far west to rescue the Queen of the Heavens from the Titan Iapetos. But will awkward romances, broken friendships, and betrayal ruin the quest?


"And you know, like, I can't stop thinking about her! I even _showered _yesterday to impress her!" Leo moaned.

I tried to arrange my face into what I hoped was a sympathetic expression. Leo was, of course, talking about Piper McLean, girlfriend of Jason Grace. Since Nico was not interested and Leo obviously couldn't discuss his feelings with Jason, I had been the unlucky one for him to pile all his angst and desperation onto.

"She's your best friend's girlfriend. Maybe you should find someone else." I squinted, trying to think of some girl who didn't hate Leo already. "Like...like...Drew!"

He gave me a _dude-are-you-serious _look. "Percy, Drew likes Jason. And even if she didn't, I would never date her! She's just..." He paused.

There was an awkward silence. I raised my eyebrows at him.

"Not my type," he finished lamely.

"Yeah, well," I said, not sure what I meant. Drew was pretty, which was _definitely _Leo's type, but she was also an airhead.

Leo and I were walking back to the cabins after an intense game of capture-the-flag. Ares had won _again_, but only because Leo, who was supposed to have been guarding the flag, had gotten distracted by a certain daughter of Aphrodite.

Annabeth ran up to us, her cheeks flushed. "Leo! What happened back there?" She did not look happy. Her brow was wrinkled and her eyes shot death rays at the teenager standing next to me.

Even though she was wearing a dirty orange camp T-shirt and ratty jeans, she was seriously gorgeous. Her stormy gray eyes made my throat dry and palms sweat, and I had to force myself not to stare at her. I didn't want to think about her in _that way_. She was my best friend after Grover, for gods' sake!

"I-I just got...distracted," Leo stammered, trying to grin.

"Sure," I muttered, causing Leo to elbow me in the ribs. "Ow!"

Annabeth narrowed her eyes. "Right. Well, next time, I'm putting you on border duty. Hopefully you won't be so _distracted _there." She scowled. "I'm going to be hearing about this from Clarisse all week." She walked off.

"She suspects about your crush on Piper," I said once Annabeth was out of hearing distance. "Annabeth isn't stupid." This was obvious, since she was the daughter of Athena, but I said it anyways since Leo could be a bit slow.

"Yeah," Leo groaned. "Oh man, Jason will kill me if he knows..."

"Knows what?" a familiar voice asked. We both turned around.

Nico di Angelo, dressed in black jeans and a motorcycle jacket, was standing there, eyebrows raised, arms crossed.

"Don't _do _that!" I exclaimed.

He spread his arms out. "Sorry. Couldn't help it."

"I thought you were up in your cabin," Leo said, looking nervous. The Hades cabin had recently been built, which was a relief. It was creepy to have skeleton warriors working on the architecture every day.

He shook his head. "Actually, I was planning on...uh...meeting someone."  
"Who?" I asked, curious.

He looked around quickly. "Ah...no one...obviously she's decided not to show..."

"_She_?" Leo and I said together.

He blushed, or was that my imagination? "No one. Nothing. Anyways, what were you talking about?"

"Nothing," Leo muttered.

"Just...girls," I said vaguely.

Nico sighed, looking even gloomier than usual. "Of course."

A sudden thought struck me. The kid was already fourteen. It was time he would start noticing the opposite sex.

"Wait. Nico, do you..._like _someone? Were you planning on meeting her here?" I asked. Leo looked amazed.

"Wait, Nico can like people?"

I rolled my eyes at him. Nico scowled.

"Don't...don't be ridiculous. Of course not. I haven't even thought of girls since Bianca..." He didn't finish his sentence, but stormed off.

"Okay," I said, looking at his receding figure in the distance.

"Weird," Leo agreed. "But hey, at least he didn't press the issue."

"Yeah."

"Hey, Percy, that reminds me. When are you and Annabeth finally going to-"  
I shoved Leo. "Shut up! She's not interested in me _like that_!" I whispered furiously.

"Sure," he smirked.

I rolled my eyes again and walked into my cabin. I was still the only kid in it, which meant I couldn't blame anyone else for the huge mess. Snack wrappers were strewn all over the floor and a pile of dirty clothes was on top of my unread Chemistry textbook.

I flopped down onto my bed, thinking about what Leo had said about Annabeth. I had made the mistake of accidentally telling Leo my feelings for Athena's daughter a couple of days ago. I thought back to when we had first met. I had been only twelve and dumb. Now I was seventeen and dumb.

A loud bang startled me. I got out of bed and dashed out the door.

A guy with cool sunglasses and blond shoulder-length hair was standing in the middle of the camp, grinning. Several dozen campers were clustered around him, looking shocked and confused.

I stared at him. He looked familiar...

"Apollo?" I asked, finally placing him.

He glanced over and grinned. "Percy Jackson! Just the guy!"

"For what?" I blurted out. I could feel the eyes of the other campers on me.

"The quest, of course!"

"What quest?"

He suddenly looked somber. "Hera is missing. Again."


End file.
